​LATEST STORIES

Borochora is a fishing community in Bangladesh and is the home of one of our three Learning Centres set up for working children. Poverty levels are so high in this area that many children have to work alongside their families in order to survive, leaving no opportunity for their own education.

The Learning Centres provide these children with a few hours each day to have a break from their work, attend classes, freshen up, and play with their friends. This is a chance for them to just be children.

Facing annual flooding and soil erosion, residents of this hill-top community also struggle with food provision. Consequently we have funded the planting of 2,500 saplings along the eroding slopes which skirt Borochora.

The trees include varieties of mango, lychee, jackfruit, mahogany, teak and eucalyptus, planted in an evenly-spaced grid around the community. The hope is that these trees will provide both an economic and environmental benefit to the community in the years to come.

Please feel free to find out more about our work in Bangladesh and consider donating to the Learning Centre projects.

Here at Children on the Edge we’re asking the public to crunch their old cars for cash as part of a novel fund-raising scheme run by the Giveacar social enterprise.

Unwanted cars are collected free-of-charge by Giveacar and either sold through an online auction, or disposed of in an environmentally friendly way. Proceeds from the sale are donated to a charity of the donor’s choice, with ‘bangers’ that are scrapped still netting between £40 and £160 for the chosen cause.

The scheme is intended to discourage irresponsible owners who may consider abandoning their cars – spoiling the appearance of the local environment and also costing local taxpayers’ money to remove and dispose of them.

Here at Children on the Edge we are not only pleased to be one of the latest of hundreds of charities who have recognised the potential of Giveacar, but we are delighted with a very special first donation.

Giveacar was set up by Tom Chance who was working in a three month job buying and selling scrap cars whilst at University, when he had the spark of inspiration which became Giveacar, an award winning donation scheme which has already generated over £500,000 for 500 charities.

Tom’s parents, Sarah and Alan Chance own Grange Farm Shop in Funtington and are donating their farm van to their son’s scheme to raise money for our projects.

Sarah Chance says “We are delighted to give our old farm van to Children on the Edge and publicise Giveacar at the same time. We know from experience how well this publicity prompts donations. So many people are truly delighted to donate their cars, especially following a death in the family. It seems to help people with their grieving process donating their cars. The team at the office are often very moved by some of the stories but equally glad that the money will help charities, such as Children on the Edge”.

The £100 scrappage price might seem like a small amount, but it can make a big difference to the children we work with. £100 can provide a hot lunch for 200 working children in Bangladesh for an entire week. As we live in a country where 2 million cars are being scrapped each year, social enterprises like Giveacar stand to make an incredible difference where it is needed most.

At the start of this autumn we had the pleasure of joining hundreds of our friends from The Body Shop At Home™ at their Christmas conference. The Body Shop At Home™ Consultants have been an incredible support to Children on the Edge over the years and raised a huge amount of money not only through their parties, but through their own fundraising events and sponsored challenges.

This September they were set a fresh challenge. For every new recruit each consultant made, The Body Shop®Head Office would give £5 to Children on the Edge. Not only this, but if they could recruit a target of 1,000 new consultants, Head Office would double this amount to £10 per recruit!

The ladies went away from the conference inspired by a great time together having seen what their efforts can achieve through a video update showing the work we support in the slums of Haiti. As well as concocting plans for balls, sky dives and all kinds of party activities to raise money for our projects, they went away determined to reach the recruitment target.

When the results came in at the end of the month we were utterly bowled over. Not only had the ladies hit their target but gone way past it recruiting a staggering 1187 consultants! This was the highest recruitment level in 5 years and resulted in a total of £11,870 being donated from The Body Shop®to Children on the Edge.

We’d like to say a massive thank you to all these amazing ladies for their hard work and effort both through this challenge and in everything else they do promoting and fundraising for our projects.

If you want to support these ladies in their efforts then don’t hesitate to book a Christmas party with The Body Shop At Home™, where there are many opportunities to raise money for our work. Just call 0800 092 90 90 to find out more about hosting a party. This would be a great chance to stock up on 100% Natural Lip Oils which make perfect stocking fillers. Every time one is purchased 50p from the sale comes to our Child Friendly Spaces.

Tetra Brik Aseptic is the worlds most popular beverage carton, and has just launched a new award winning carton design with a smart slanting ‘edge’. As part of this launch and in keeping with the ‘edge’ theme, they have decided to support Children on the Edge in a new and innovative way.

If you pop onto their website and click on ‘Play the Edge’ in their menu they have provided a (rather addictive) little game to test your competitive edge! Simply log in through facebook and have a go at using your mouse to tilt the package and flip the ball as far as you can. The further you flip, the more points you get. These points are turned into a donation to our work.

It couldn’t be easier for you, your friends and family to raise funds for the children we work with. At no cost to you can accumulate points, turn the points into cash, and pit yourself against other players on the leader board!

Ghislaine Davis, local artist and patron of charitable initiatives, has donated some beautiful unframed watercolours to Chichester based charity Children on the Edge as part of her desire to share her talents with the world and to make a difference.

Educated in France, Ghislaine has lived in Norway, speaks five languages and settled with her husband in Chichester 5 years ago. Ghislaine has always supported charities with her artistic talents and recently saw a story about our projects in the local paper and decided to donate some pieces which can be viewed by clicking here.

Anyone willing to display or wishing to bid for these beautiful watercolours depicting Chichester and surrounding coastal scenes should contact Children on the Edge on 01243 538 530 or e-mail Euan Clarke at euanclarke@childrenontheedge.org.uk.

Euan Clarke, Community Fundraiser for Children on the Edge says “These paintings would be perfect for a special Christmas present or anniversary memory of happy times. Ghislaine is to be warmly commended for her wonderful generosity”.

Matthew Gray ran way past the mark when he took on the Windsor Half Marathon to raise money for our projects. Matthew aimed to raise £300 but has smashed this target and bought in £400!

Matthew seems to have many strings to his bow. He is not only a speedy runner but a musician in the forces. One of the ways he managed to boost his total was by encouraging friends to give at one of his gigs!

£400 will make an incredible difference to the children we work with. It will pay for the rent of one of our Apartment Schools for refugee children in Malaysia for an entire year, as well as four months wages for a teacher at the schools.

If you want to take on a challenge like Matthew please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We’d love to hear from you!